The "Volunteer": A Novel

I was hooked by the first two chapters and though I had intended to read a different book the last three days, this absorbed me to the point that I had to finish it. And it did not disappoint. The artfully detailed character developments pulled me along with the notion that these seemed like very real people. I liked the fact that there are not any virtuous good-guys and no icky villains (Other than the Chemistry Professor.) Everybody was thoroughly fleshed out whether they were naked or not. And I marveled at the way the plot worked itself up to a resounding crescendo at the end. The book made some very satisfying themes blaze powerfully through the narrative from beginning to the end. And not really so much about public nudity. This book was more about how people can forgive other people's mistakes, learn to deal with hurdles and grow as a person rather than being stunted by them, and how to embrace a new idea that made the main character course-correct her world view. I strongly recommend the book. Especially if you feel a little bit squeamish about the topic of public nudity.

The Volunteer is well written and an enjoyable read. In fact, despite reading so many bad books lately, this book has renewed my joy of reading.The fantasy of being naked in public without any hope of covering was well thought out and made my hands sweat imagining being in the same situation.My only criticism is not in the writing but in how the book made me feel. I was deeply invested in the protagonist’s experience and what she was feeling from minute to minute but I was so angry about the blackmail part of the story, that it ruined the adventure.I had personally hoped Dani would get her law degree and sue the professor. For that reason I found the ending of the book unsatisfying.Just the same, I really enjoyed this book. The author obviously spoke from experience and brought real honesty to what it’s like to be naked in public.

A fantasy... but with realism: a naked girl attending classes on a college campus provides the fantasy. Frequent male students' catcalls and even the vacillating responses of Dani, the main character, portray the realism. In the latter case (for the novel is told from her viewpoint), she frankly admits everything from resentment to exhilaration to feeling sexually stimulated by her public nudity. Body-positive readers, who distinguish mere nudity from our culture's sex-focus, may find her behaviors falling short of their ideal. But the author has not depicted a girl raised with a healthy body acceptance. She starts out as a valid portrayal of someone groomed by our sexually oriented, body-shame culture. The novel might have been entitled The Victim. But read to the end to see why Dani really was The Volunteer.

Being a nudist and a promoter of nudism myself, this book was certainly insightful and well played out.Naked Dani is by no means a nudist throughout almost the entirety of the book, being more of a forced and reluctant exhibitionist, and places her in an awkward situation where she is NAKED [state of undress], not NUDE [natural state]. This places her in a vulnerable state, and one that subjects her to self-arousal as her body and psyche are testing the reactions she perceives. I would have hoped that she would have progressed from Nakedness to Nudity a little more in the book, but anticipate that in the sequel more so than this forced introduction. I'm sure the arousals she was feeling were also being felt by those seeing her initially. I'm actually surprised there wasn't more activity with two characters she spent a lot of time with, on an attraction level, though I was proud of the solidarity in the swim class, I was wishing I would have seen more in the commons and elsewhere from co-supporters.I want to be clear that the AANR does not force nudity, even in it's resorts, except the voluntary use of the pool and hot tub areas. Nudity is not a uniform one must wear upon admittance, it is a natural state those in attendance are free to take time to adjust to. As a former year round resident of a camp in Southeastern PA, there are plenty of times residents are NOT NUDE. Just the amount of snow we get should be enough of a clue! Everyone should cross Nudism off their bucket lists as soon as they see an opportunity to do so. Everything Dani experiences, albeit purposefully less sexually stimulating, in regards to heightened senses of the contact of the world around her - the breeze, sun, temperature, feel of the earth in your toes, swimming - is accurate, and can only truly be experienced first hand in its fullest measure.I am very much looking forward to seeing anything about the sequel D. H Jonathan is currently scribing. Naked Dani certainly went through some trials and tribulations in this book, and I look forward to what the future holds. Please ... keep me updated! I'd love to see AANR support this as a movie to help support body acceptance, with a little less emphasis on the sexuality. Shaping our perceptions of nudity as something more positive would put us more in line with most European countries' and reduce the number of sexual assaults and perversions. Decriminalizing the natural state would be the ideal.I received my copy from Amazon at 5pm on 11/24/17. I just finished it at 3:15am on 11/25/17. I could not put it down, except to make supper and go to the bathroom. VERY well written.

This was interesting. A student caught cheating who gets an offer to save her scholarship and grade by volunteering to participate in an unusual research.It follows the main character spending 2 months on the campus completely naked with the sociology department recording the reaction of people to her nudity.What was interesting for me was the whole concept of what losing clothes means to the character, and the roller-coaster of feeling of humiliation, embarrassment, pride and exhibitionism, shame, sexual arousal, and feeling liberated, all those feelings jumping in and out.It was well written, good pace, and the ending was unexpected.It made me think about the whole nudity culture, and what makes people do it.One reason why I am not giving it 4 stars is that somehow, something was missing. It was a bit uni-dimensional. Some stories started and never finished, some characters could have been made more alive.But then, I am a woman of many words, and like my books that way, too.

I was intrigued by the story and was unsure how or if the author could deliver an interesting and readable book. I found this book to be a delight, original and interesting extremely entertaining, I found the characters to be honest and genuine and the author didn't dive into over contrived situations just to further dramatize the story. All in all a throughly enjoyable read and I was sorry that it had to end. Thank you D.H.Jonathan.

A wonderful, heart warming and thought provoking story that accurately and sensitively captures the joy inherent in the experience of public nudity. All naturists will recognise the mix of exhilaration and trepidation felt by the heroine Danielle Keaton and will likely envy her opportunity as she ‘gets to be naked’ in public. Highly recommended.

A very interesting book and a though fiction has great reference to andrew Martinez who I had never heard of but am interested in reading all about him and how people's perception of nude people change as time went on while exposed to it

I didn't expect much from this story but was blown away by the vivid descriptions of Dani's feelings and experiences. It felt so real I couldn't put it down, and even found myself googling more information.